{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

"

Hercanic wrote:

Runners up in Betrayal League are (not including private characters):

• 2nd Place: Viktorious1's DrkXile @ level 99
  
• 3rd Place: Corvvin's Krapuleth @ level 98
  
• 4th Place: eli_the_tail's ArmyOfEli @ level 97
  
• 5th Place: KardinalChang's Celeste_Temple_Betrayal @ level 94
  Great job everyone!
  

• 
  
  Notelrac's Diedrie @ level 95
  
  My deviation from the build is to swap DPS for life with

@ Notelrac:

"

Notelrac wrote:

"

Hercanic wrote:

Runners up in Betrayal League are (not including private characters):

• 2nd Place: Viktorious1's DrkXile @ level 99
  
• 3rd Place: Corvvin's Krapuleth @ level 98
  
• 4th Place: eli_the_tail's ArmyOfEli @ level 97
  
• 5th Place: KardinalChang's Celeste_Temple_Betrayal @ level 94

Great job everyone!

Notelrac's Diedrie @ level 95

My deviation from the build is to swap DPS for life with

The Hall of Fame in the main thread is using poe.ninja links instead of poe-profile links. I changed them over since poe.ninja snapshot all the characters at the end of the league while poe-profile shows the character as they currently are, including changes made after migrating to Standard.

Can you find your character on poe.ninja? I only searched for Necromancers using Raise Spectre (any links) and Herald of Agony (any links) and then confirmed their passive tree. If your character wasn't using one of these, was set to private, or was not in one of the Betrayal Challenge Leagues, then it would not turn up in the search. If there's another reason, I'd like to discover the cause so the Hall of Fame is accurate.

---

@ LycamCorsuri and CapetaDoMal:

"

LycamCorsuri wrote:

Looking forward to running it again in 3.6!

"

CapetaDoMal wrote:

This is my build for SC 3.6. I've loved it on 3.5.

Awesome! I hope to hear more about your exploits! =oD

I've added several new pieces of art for everyone to discover, as I strive to improve the guide for Synthesis' launch. So many plans, so little time!

---

@ BeaverButcher:

"

BeaverButcher wrote:

Thanks for your great build.

This build was my league starter and it was great.
It was my first league ever and I killed the Uber Elder with this build.

I think I will run it again as my starter next league.

Ps: I don't know why I am not at Poe Ninja. :-(

Congrats on the Uber kill!

As for not showing up on poe.ninja, were any of the reasons I listed above for Notelrac applicable to you?

---

@ kager:

"

kager wrote:

I found Culling Strike significantly helped with finishing off bosses (which was their weak point since they don't contribute much damage wise during boss fights) and adding stacks when clearing for Unending Hunger. They turn into shotguns and keep everything frozen even with the lower damage.

Unending Hunger doesn't require Spectres to land the killing blow, they just have to be nearby when the monster dies.

If you don't mind losing Zombies and reactivating Herald of Agony at the end of a boss fight, you could save a link and use Culling Strike against bosses by having any skill linked to it in your second weapon set. When you're sure the boss is down to their last 10%, swap and cast the skill. If you link Culling Strike to a duration spell, like Firestorm (not sure about Brands or Orb of Storms, would have to test), you can immediately swap back after casting and the spell will persist and cull for you.

Or wield a Heartbreaker dagger in your second weapon set. It grants all your spells, including minions, Culling Strike. There may or may not be snapshotting with its effect, but either way you could make it work for you. Either everything gets Culling Strike the moment you weapon swap, or only spells you cast after weapon swapping will be imparted cull, which means you can cast Ball Lightning and immediately swap back while still benefiting from the lingering ball.

Just an idea. In practice, this may not feel too great.

"

kager wrote:

"

Hercanic wrote:

I'm curious why you chose to stay on the left side of the tree. Let's work out the differences...

...In conclusion, they're fairly close with their tradeoffs. The valuation therefore depends on how you rate Acrobatics, jewel sockets, and Grave Intentions compared to increased life, and whether you can get enough DEX on gear to make up the difference.

I did rough numbers and came up with same conclusion. It's pretty close overall. I predicted it was going to be a one shot mechanic league, and I honestly suffered at the hands of many Fortification towers before I got above 7.4k life and started using fortify and after the much needed nerfs to some of the masters. Many one shots were still happening and unavoidable. The 40%/30% attack/spell dodge would have helped a fair amount, but I was hoping the 550+ life was enough of a buffer. I think the sell point for me was I could add a couple extra endurance charges for 4 points end game if I deemed it necessary. Next league I will seriously be looking at 3 + min endurance charges from ring/ring/amulet enchant since the aggro from enduring cry is dangerous and removes minion taunt.
I most likely would stay to right side if I go SSF again since maintaining dex was pretty rough with no purchasable gear.

Were they actual one-shots, or a swarm of so many sources of hits all at once that it would feel like a one-shot because you had no time to react? In the case of former, Acrobatics is just a gamble. In the case of the latter, it essentially acts like mitigation. Taking only 60% of attacks is like having 66% more life (or 100% more life when using a Quartz flask), and taking only 70% of spells is worth (1 / 0.7 =) 43% more life. In the right situations, dodge is very powerful.

I definitely recommend using Fortify on Charged Dash so it's always up. 20% reduced damage alone is worth 25% more life.

Stacking Physical Damage Reduction is also very important. You can get:

8% Fleshbinder
2% Grave Intentions
2% +1 Zombies craft on Helm and Body Armor
4% Chaos Golem
4% new Channelling notable
12% +3 minimum Endurance Charges craft on Rings and Amulet
------
= 32%

With a Basalt flask active, you could reach 47%, just a hair shy of doubling your life against physical damage.

---

@ ArmedCiv:

"

ArmedCiv wrote:

WOW Hercanic.

This is difficult to put into words, the respect, admiration and appreciation I have for you is just quietly very high.

Thank you for the acknowledgement with this HOF, it hardly feels that big of a deal since this league broke all kinds of records for the most level 100s, but it was an achievement nevertheless and was hard work for me personally anyway being my first ever. although i'm sure SSF and hardcore is far more prestigious.

The reason why I never switched the Projectile Weakness and never went for the movement skill, was just wanting to have more survive ability (namely higher resists to do map mods that dropped them considerably without worrying about it). I just hate dying. And I can say that outside of couple huge bosses, I did not die very much with this build, and that is a HUGE credit to you and what you did with the build in allowing these little bits of breathing spaces for us to make slight adjustments. But like everything else in your messages here to myself and other users of your build, you are completely 100% right and I agree completely with you. I should have known to change that for Incursions, I guess you just get spoiled with a good thing and want to do it all with it all the time. But that's just not how POE works, sometimes you do have to make adjustments according to situations, as I did with Bosses thanks to your advice I would switch out Phantasms for Hypothermia for those single big bosses.

The way I see our relation is that you are the Engineer and I am a driver of your vehicle, like a Formula 1 team. So just want to say what a pleasure it was playing your build and having you here for support and help. You do such an amazing job keeping us all well informed about the build and our options and the nuances of the build. Really top notch.

With your build and your help I achieved the most ever in a League, got all the League rewards for the first time ever. I was able to purchase these

Worth around 60ex so I can have some fun in Standard with some cool mechanics that were prior to this build out of my reach. So thank you for that. And thank you for a Build that highly compensates my lack of skill in the actual game. I must be one of the least skilled people out there at this game, so this achievement again is a huge credit to you, because me, I couldn't do it alone or with inferior builds. Your build, bridges the gap of my lack of skill with its features. And that is one of the things that attracted me to your build, and it Delivered in Full.

But most importantly I had fun, probably the most fun I've ever had in poe. Most leagues I get bored with the build and the game. Now part of that was this league had more things to do, but also I think your build also helped. And part of it, was that I also never played as full Minion build before. But now I think I got spoiled. I can't imagine myself going to anything inferior.

So I do hope what ever you come up with on the engineers drawing board can improve upon your master piece here.

Much Love your Fan.

Thank you, this means a lot to me.

Random Idea:
Firestorm + Spell Cascade + Intensify + Concentrated Effect + Unleash + Spell Echo/Faster Casting/Increased Duration. The amount of single-target hits you could potentially get would be insane. With so much less area, there's a good chance of achieving a full 30 hits per second per cast, times total duration.

30% Damage Effectiveness would put Shaper rings at 4.5 life per hit per ring. = 135 life per sec per cast per duration per ring. Base cast time of 0.75, base duration 2 sec, and a bonus Unleash recurrence every 0.71 sec.

First of all. I am really impressed by the detail and time put into making this guide. You are a legend!

I am in the process of deciding which build to go for this league and this one has caught my interest. I saw your previous post about changes and it seems to me like there might be some changes in core mechanics of the build. (Kingmaker and such)

Do you hope to crunch the numbers before launch? Would like to see what you land on before taking the plunge. :D

Cheers and keep up the good work.

Hi, this build looks awesome and I am keen to give it a go for Synthesis League.

Just a question re: Herald of Agony - just how much of our DPS is contributed by the Agony scorpion?

Because I am not a huge fan of the Charged Dash gameplay style and having to use that..... is there any other alternative to generate those virulence stacks?

If I skip out on Charged Dash, will HoA still work in this build? And if I end up having to cut HoA, will my dps be worthless?

My goal is to be able to kill Shaper this league... so... Any advice really aprpeciate. :)

Thanks a lot.

Hi there, this build looks good.
Curious about the auras.
What are you thoughts on Hatred vs Anger?

Plan on using frost sentinels.

Thanks

"

Anger

Now causes you and nearby allies to deal 16 to 23 additional Fire Damage with Attacks at gem level 1 (from 12 to 21) and 109 to 155 additional Fire Damage with Attacks at gem level 20 (from 83 to 138).
Now causes you and nearby allies to deal 15 to 21 additional Fire Damage with Spells at gem level 1 (from 10 to 16) and 99 to 140 additional Fire Damage with Spells at gem level 20 (from 69 to 110).


Hatred

Now causes you and nearby Allies to deal 14% more Cold Damage at gem level 1, up to 18% more Cold Damage at gem level 20. Note that this cold damage multiplies the Extra damage granted by the aura.
Now causes you and nearby Allies to gain 16% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage (from 26%) at gem level 1, up to 25% at gem level 20 (from 36%).

Hello Hercanic.

Thanks for amazing guide and build. I've one weird question to ask, would be really happy if you can reply.

I'm aware of why we use the Frost Sentinels and Lunar Guards. Frost Sentinels also provide freeze with Phantasms on kill, but..

I've a really sensetive eye and those spear projectiles really killing me in the videos, I was thinking to use 3 Solar guard isntead, but it is not so much of effective since I don't need 3 of them to DPS and summon phantasms. Can you be kind enough to suggest me different spectres to use please ? I've no experience on prior summoner builds.

Also how much damage will build lose if I remove spectres with phantasms ?

Thank you so much.

Is this build any good for a complete noob in the game that wish to play like a nolife and wants to do ALL the content on the league?

Thanks again for this build, going to play it again this league.

FYI your build was mentioned by LNB as a starter build for this league which is cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgxL1D1Vpog

@ myshild:

"

myshild wrote:

First of all. I am really impressed by the detail and time put into making this guide. You are a legend!

I am in the process of deciding which build to go for this league and this one has caught my interest. I saw your previous post about changes and it seems to me like there might be some changes in core mechanics of the build. (Kingmaker and such)

Do you hope to crunch the numbers before launch? Would like to see what you land on before taking the plunge. :D

Cheers and keep up the good work.

Thanks! =o)

Including Kingmaker depends on how large the aura is, and how expensive Soul Taker and Heartbreaker become. There's a chance it could catch onto a meta, where practically any build could run an Animated Guardian for the free Fortify.

We could also target-farm The Soul divination card in Crater, Overgrown Shrine, or Sepulchre maps.

Adding an Animated Guardian to this build would mean dropping CWDT. Spirit Offering can also be traded in for Minion Life Support or a War Banner/Dread Banner. If the aura is big enough so we don't need our own Fortify, then we can drop it from Shield Charge in favor of a Chaos Golem for more Physical Damage Reduction. We could also use Infused Channelling Support instead of GMP on Charged Dash for even more protection.

---

@ Chibiwong:

"

Chibiwong wrote:

Hi, this build looks awesome and I am keen to give it a go for Synthesis League.

Just a question re: Herald of Agony - just how much of our DPS is contributed by the Agony scorpion?

Because I am not a huge fan of the Charged Dash gameplay style and having to use that..... is there any other alternative to generate those virulence stacks?

If I skip out on Charged Dash, will HoA still work in this build? And if I end up having to cut HoA, will my dps be worthless?

My goal is to be able to kill Shaper this league... so... Any advice really aprpeciate. :)

Thanks a lot.

Shaper should be fairly easy with this build. We pack a lot of damage on the cheap and can constantly stay mobile to avoid his Slams, Beam, and Balls.

Check out the DPS Breakdown section, it shows how much every minion type contributes in different situations.

Ball Lightning is the heavy lifter for Virulence stacks.

Blade Flurry can replace Charged Dash. We use a Channeled skill with CwC to increase the cast speed and reduce the mana cost of spamming Ball Lightning. We use an Attack instead of a Channeled Spell so we can inflict Bleed with Chance to Bleed Support as an Elder glove affix. Bleed lets us use Bloodlust Support on Skeletons for a massive 59% more damage multiplier.

If you wanted to use a Channeled Spell instead, you'd need to replace Bloodlust with either a level 4 Empower (great additional life & damage but rare and super expensive), Multistrike (locks them in place so be careful with knockback), Ruthless (requires three hits to have any effect, so it won't always be doing anything), or Hypothermia (target must be chilled, which requires a minimum hit of Cold Damage equal to 0.33% of the enemy's maximum life, which against Shaper's 20M life = 66,000 cold damage).

Spells with the most utility are Blight for its 80% Hinder or Wither with its boost to Chaos Damage for the Agony Crawler. Scorching Ray would be nice if you have anything with Added Fire Support, but otherwise we don't deal much of any Fire Damage. Winter Orb would be perfect because it lets us be mobile, but it deals Cold Damage and we use EE and Hatred. We can't use Avatar of Fire because then we couldn't Poison, and Cold to Fire Support with a Pyre ring still leaves 10% Cold Damage so it wouldn't work out.

The reason we use Charged Dash in particular is because of its built-in mobility. It's a huge improvement to clear speed over the normal stutter-casting. The ability to go up cliffs and across gaps is also a life-saver in maps that prominently feature those obstacles.

---

@ Mang0Soulja:

"

Mang0Soulja wrote:

Hi there, this build looks good.
Curious about the auras.
What are you thoughts on Hatred vs Anger?

Plan on using frost sentinels.

Thanks

"

Anger
Now causes you and nearby allies to deal 16 to 23 additional Fire Damage with Attacks at gem level 1 (from 12 to 21) and 109 to 155 additional Fire Damage with Attacks at gem level 20 (from 83 to 138).
Now causes you and nearby allies to deal 15 to 21 additional Fire Damage with Spells at gem level 1 (from 10 to 16) and 99 to 140 additional Fire Damage with Spells at gem level 20 (from 69 to 110).

Hatred
Now causes you and nearby Allies to deal 14% more Cold Damage at gem level 1, up to 18% more Cold Damage at gem level 20. Note that this cold damage multiplies the Extra damage granted by the aura.
Now causes you and nearby Allies to gain 16% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage (from 26%) at gem level 1, up to 25% at gem level 20 (from 36%).

Hatred is better. It's 25% more damage for Frost Sentinels, 43% more damage for the rest of our minions, and allows Phantasms to Chill and Freeze.

Anger would not be scaled by the Agony Crawler's 800% increased Physical Damage or Empower. It would not be increased by our Skeletons' Melee Physical Damage Support, Bloodlust Support, or +3 levels.

Just look at the base damage of our minions. A level 82 Frost Sentinel's Ice Spear deals 1009 to 1513 Cold Damage in its first form, and gains 50% more damage in its second form. Anger, boosted by Generosity, would add (99 + 140 = 239 / 2 for average damage = 120 * 1.39 for Generosity increased effect =) 166 fire damage. 166 is only 16% more for 1009 damage, the lowest damage range of the Frost Sentinel. At level 82. A level 84 Frost Sentinel deals even greater base damage.

Flat elemental damage is just no good on minions who already have very high base damage, and who are scaled with additional levels and physical-specific supports. Hatred, meanwhile, scales from all of that.